Tim Lincecum is as good as he always was, but he is 3-4 this year due to a lack of run support. He does not figure to get much support tonight either vs. young lefty Brett Anderson, so take Oakland at a price.

A major upset could be in store in one of the interleague contests on the MLB Matchups for Saturday night, as Brett Anderson and the Oakland Athletics (22-23 overall, 11-11 away) cross the Bay to take one former two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and the World Champion San Francisco Giants (25-19 overall, 11-5 home) at AT&T Pack in San Francisco, CA at 7:10 ET in a game televised regionally on FOX.

The Giants got a rather unexpected win in the series opener here last night 2-1 in 10 innings when their fifth starter Ryan Vogelsong got the best of Oakland’s ace Trevor Cahill, who still owns a sparkling 1.79 ERA even after the Oakland loss. The Giants must feel good about sending two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum to the hill tonight, but we feel that the Athletics hold the value with southpaw Brett Anderson on the hill.

The MLB latest line from Bodog for this contest is Oakland +134 on the Money Line betting odds on the road.

Anderson may be just 2-3 on the MLB odds, but the youngster has ace-type stuff himself and he was actually more highly regarded coming up than Cahill was. He has been pitching in some hard luck this year, as he has a nice 3.30 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP, and he has allowed three eaned runs or less in seven of his nine starts this season.

His luck has not changed much since last year, when he finished just 7-6 in 19 starts despite ending up with a sparkling 2.80 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 112.1 innings. Anderson has shown great command for a young pitcher since breaking into the league in 2009, as he has 272 strikeouts vs. just 83 walks in 347.2 career innings, including 47 strikeouts against only 16 walks this year. The sky is the limit for this young man and he is always dangerous as a decided dog.

Anderson is facing a San Francisco lineup that has had its difficulties with left-handed pitchers this year, especially here at home where the Giants are batting .227 vs. southpaws while producing a pathetic 2.62 runs per nine innings against them.

Now take nothing away from Lincecum, as it is obvious that his 3-4 record in MLB betting is not a true reflection of his ability, as he does have a typically good 2,36 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with the league hitting .217 against him, and he also has 69 strikeouts and only 24 walks in 61 innings. His problem has been lack of run support, and unfortunately for “Tiny Tim”, he may suffer that same ugly fate tonight the way the Giants are hitting (or not hitting) quality lefties.

It this is a close game late, the San Francisco bullpen is falling apart a bit lately. Sure, that unit still has a good 3.17 ERA for the whole season, but that figure has been steadily rising due to an ugly 5.12 bullpen ERA over the last 10 games.

Now the A’s will never be confused with Murderers’ Row, but they have picked things up a bit vs. right-handed pitching lately, batting .253 against them while averaging a very good 4.79 runs per nine innings over the last 10 games, as opposed to a .162 average and a low run production of 3.57 vs. left-handers during this time.

Thus, take the Athletics with Anderson at a rather generous price on the MLB betting odds on the road in the Bay Area Series Saturday night.